Dwayne Wade Drops 30, Heat Level Series

Dwayne Wade dropped 30 points as the Miami Heat beat the Toronto Raptors 94-87 in overtime to level the Eastern Conference semifinals at two wins apiece.

In what was a see-saw affair, the advantage shifted to Miami when point guard Goran Dragic drained a clutch three-pointer late in overtime. At one stage, Heat trailed Raptors by 9 points in the fourth quarter before a flurry of clutch baskets from Wade (30 points, 13-24 FG, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals) Joe Johnson (15 points, 3 assists, 3 steals) led the home team’s fightback. |Final Box Score|

Dwayne Wade takes over…

With Miami down 77-68 halfway through the final quarter, Wade scored the next five points to shave the deficit to seven points. With 1:58 left in the game, Raptors led 79-77 until point guard Kyle Lowry was fouled out on an offensive foul. That proved to be the turning point of the game.

With 12.6 seconds left, Wade successfully got to the rim for a layup to tie the game at 83 and send it into overtime. The announcers felt that this was Wade’s best playoff performance in more than five years.

During the overtime period, Heat kept Raptors to just 4 points to shut any hopes of a comeback. The Raptors had their worst shooting night of the entire season, going 33/84 from the field and 6/20 from the three-point arc. While Kyle Lowry went 2/11 from field before being fouled out of the game, his backcourt partner DeMar DeRozan had a forgettable night – going 4/17 from the field for his 9 points.

For the Raptors, Terrence Ross (14 points, 3-4 3pt) and Corey Joseph (14 points, 7-17 FG) breathed life into the offense while coming off the bench. In the absence of starting center Jonas Valanciunas, Bismack Biyombo stepped up on the defensive end but could not provide too much offense. DeMarre Carroll had 13 points and 3 rebounds but remained in foul trouble for most of the game.

Dwayne Wade surpasses Magic Johnson…

Meanwhile, Wade also set a personal milestone on Monday night, eclipsing Los Angeles Lakers legend Magic Johnson (3,701) for 13th on the list of the league’s all-time playoffs scoring leaders. According to ESPN: “He’s also passed Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, Scottie Pippen and Dirk Nowitzki in these playoffs alone, and now with 3,723 he’s within 32 of tying No. 12 Hakeem Olajuwon (3,755). Wade is the NBA’s 39th all-time regular-season scorer, up from No. 54 when this season began.”

Dwayne Wade and the Heat will now return to Toronto for Game 5 on Wednesday.